Light commercial EVs set to lead market comeback

Wednesday, 29 October 2025

Tradies are helping lead the charge for a resurgence in electric vehicle imports as prices fall to match their fossil fuel powered versions, Danusia Wypych, chief executive of electric vehicle charging network ChargeNet says.

The Government cut EV imports at the knees when it removed the EV import Clean Car Discount scheme subsidy at the end of 2023, but a number of fleet purchases were still coming into the country.

“The bit that I'm really excited about for the coming 12 months is the number of light commercial vehicles that are coming through at price parity,” Wypych said.

In addition the new electric vehicles are quicker to charge and public chargers are becoming exponentially faster.

ChargeNet chalked up its first decade in business last year having grown from just one charging station in Auckland to more than 520 charging points throughout the country, slightly behind target. ChargeNet had doubled its capacity over the past three years.

More competitors had also entered the market helping to develop the charging network to 1400 sites nationwide. There was now a charging station every 75 to 100 kilometres, Wypych said. EVs would probably settle at a range of between 400 and 600 kilometres, similar to their petrol powered equivalent.

The Government wants to reach its target of 10,000 public EV chargers by 2030. There were about 110,000 EVs — made up of 77,000 battery electric and 33,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles in the country.

Ten years ago a 150 kilowatt charger could charge one car at a time. Now ChargeNet’s average install would be two 200 kilowatt charges and could simultaneously charge four cars, with some sites expanded to a third charger to keep up with demand and more sites being installed in strategic areas such as Tauranga.

Upgrading urban charging stations had increased consumption four to five times. “So there is unmet demand in the market in some parts at the moment,” she said.

On the vehicle side, new battery technology was also allowing EVs to charge much faster. For example Chinese brand BYD had a car that charged in four minutes on a DC charger, similar to the time it took to fill a petrol car at a service station.

While 80% of EVs would be charged at home, over the next decade the challenge would be to integrate slower smart AC charging sites at workplaces and car parking.

Most of the time a slower charge would suffice to keep a car topped up, for example plugging for 20 minutes at the supermarket while doing the shopping, or in a carpark while watching the children play sport.

EV imports collapsed after the government Clean Car Discount scheme subsidy was removed last year, but a number of fleet purchases were still coming into the country.

Wypych took comfort in the fact that sales of plug-in and battery electric vehicle sales surged about 15% ahead of the subsidy removal. That had insulated the charging industry from lower sales this year.

The current EV adoption rate in New Zealand was 3 to 4%. “Once you've hit 5% continuously, you're considered to be onto an electrification transition. And you're not going back, your economy will transfer,” she said.

How quickly that happened would partly come down to how soon people wanted to enjoy the benefits, she said.

New EV prices were falling. Over the next year more light commercial EVs would come onto the market at the same price as their petrol or diesel equivalent, she said.

You can get a compact EV for less than $30,000 and they cost about $1.60 a litre comparative to run if you're charging at home. So you've already got money in your pocket every week if you're travelling any great distances to work.

Tradies were discussing electric vehicle options on social media. “That wasn't a conversation six months ago,” she said.

ChargeNet’s annual survey found a quarter of people would either own an EV, or intend to buy one, in the next three years.

The biggest driver was the cost of living and being able to save on petrol costs. Ten years ago buying a Nissan Leaf was a lifestyle choice. “Now it's just a practical decision.”

That also meant the charging infrastructure had to be built now in anticipation of those new customers, she said.

Wypych said the national vehicle fleet turned over at about 4% a year, and 60% of the new vehicles were bought for commercial fleets and tradies.

The increase in the number and variety of EVs would eventually flow through to the second hand market where most people bought their vehicles.